Alicia knew she was a very fast runner, she had dozens of trophies and medals to prove it, but she thought this guy could be a contender for the three minute mile. She managed to reach the gate and grab at it on her way through.
Her momentum pulled it closed and her pursuer had no chance of stopping. He slammed into the gate at full throttle and bounced off landing on his back. The cell-phone he’d been playing with in the car fell from his pocket and skidded across the tarmac.
Alicia looked to her left to see the blue car turning at the top of the road, looking back she saw the man who’d chased her starting to get up. She knew if she ran to her right she wouldn’t make it before the car got to her. She looked again at the man behind who was bent over with his hands on his knees ready to stand erect.
She had no choice. She would have to run back through the park. Alicia grabbed hold of the gate and with all the strength she had left threw it open. The gate struck the man on the top of his head making an almost gong-like sound and once more he fell to the ground.
She jumped over him and inadvertently stood on the cell-phone he’d just dropped causing her to slip and fall back. The cell-phone again skidded across the tarmac, only this time it ended up in the pond. Alicia scrambled to her feet and was about to set off again when she felt a hand grip her by the ankle. She looked down to see the blood-covered face of the man, his eyes wide with rage staring up at her.
Swinging back her free leg she kicked him as hard as she could under his chin causing him to release his grip. Again she started to run. As she reached the gate she’d first entered she turned to see the two men stood watching her. She thought they’d given up. She hoped they'd given up.
With her heart pounding and her breath rapid Alicia picked up her school books and boarded a bus that took her in the opposite direction to home. Once seated she turned to look out the window hoping they were still standing in the park, but they weren't, and the car started to pull away just as her bus turned the first corner.
Alicia couldn’t go to her mother’s place of work because she’d always been told never to go there; the owner of the club wouldn’t like it. If she had a problem she was to knock on her neighbour’s door, Mrs Mancini, but that was certainly out of the question. Fortunately the bus she’d boarded passed close by the club; there she could wait in a café that gave her a view of the side entrance her mom would use when she'd finished.
She stepped off the bus at almost 4pm and used the first public telephone she could find, but she’d only just missed her mom. Mary Lou said she’d already started her first show. Alicia hung up and made her way to the café, all the time looking over her shoulder to make sure no one followed.
Once inside she felt a great deal safer. She sat by one of the windows where she could see the side entrance and with her books in front of her she waited.
After only a minute a short dark haired chubby waitress in a green apron came over to where she sat. ‘What can I gecha’ honey?’ she said.
‘Oh, no thanks, I’m just waiting for my mom.’ Alicia smiled.
‘Sorry honey, management rules say ya gotta’ buy somethin’.’
‘Oh right... I’ll have a Pepsi please.’
The waitress sighed weightily. ‘Pepsi’s only seventy-five cents, management rules say minimum spend is a Dollar-fifty.’
Alicia rolled her eyes. ‘Fine, get me two then.’
‘Two Pepsis’ comin’ up…’ she uttered scribbling on a pad.
Alicia waited about three minutes before her drinks arrived at the table. She'd expected two cans of Pepsi; instead she was given two small glasses of muddy brown liquid, neither one produced by the Pepsi Corporation. She handed over the Dollar-fifty and sipped at one of the glasses.
The time was 4:15. Alicia had almost two hours to wait, she could do that. She sifted through her schoolbooks opening one of them and started to do the homework she’d been given that morning. If she took her time and checked all her answers over, the homework would last twice as long as it usually does.
